On the Wings

… Bruce MacLeod reports that Valtteri Filppula did not practice today. That’s something that has become more frequent lately as Fil deals with late season and playoff injuries. Ansar Khan says he’s expected to play tomorrow.

… MacLeod also says Johan Franzen also did not skate. No surprise there, as he was only cleared for off-ice conditioning on Wednesday.

… Speaking of those two, MacLeod has an interesting piece up on his blog about the Wings’ sudden lack of secondary scoring.

To be sure, that is a concern, but certainly not the end of the world. The Wings’ top line is the most complete in the League and will be extremely difficult for their prospective Finals opponent, Pittsburgh, to stop.

That said, goals from other sources would be great. I’m with Nick Lidstrom on that.

… George Sipple reports that the Wings told him today that the Finals will be played on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays only. It’s possible that the round could start Thursday if both teams wrap up their series this weekend, but Saturday is probably more likely in that case.

… Steve at Kukla’s Korner has the information you need if you’re concerned that Game 5 tomorrow will go into overtime and conflict with the Preakness. Basically, if you’re in a Detroit or Dallas coverage area, NBC will stay with the game. If you’re not, you’d better hope you have Versus.

… Alanah at Kukla’s Korner has the transcripts of media Q&A’s with Mike Babcock, Tomas Holmstrom, and Nick Lidstrom.

… According to Mike Heika, Bill McCreary will officiate Game 5. Heika’s concerned that there will be repercussions for comments made by Brenden Morrow in which the Dallas Stars captain accused McCreary of anti-Mike Fistric bias in Game 1. Whatever. McCreary has not been kind to the Wings in the past, so I’m sure it will all “even out.” Evening things out is what the NHL is about, right?